Scarlet Four O'clock
by Itsuwari San
Summary: The Four O'clock flower blooms in the afternoon, its beauty is extravagant but brief. How similiar to life.


**Scarlet Four O'clock**

The dead feels nothing. No joy, no sorrow; no love, no hate. The dead possesses nothing. No heartbeat, no breath; no sight, no thoughts. All it has is just an empty carcass, holding nothing, void of all. The dead has not always been that way though; once upon a lifetime, it was a living, breathing creature, conscious of humanity.

That year's autumn was exceptionally cold. Wind swept the fallen deciduous leaves, still golden orange and a great contrast to the grey heaven, across the barren streets of Sunagakure. The underground prison cell was dark and dry, its narrow gray passages lit dimly by withering torches framed into the wall.

Chains made of chakra cut sharply into her raw neck; blood flowed freely through the wound and stained her tattered white kimono. "Does it hurt?" Sasori laughed scornfully. "You take too many things for granted, Shaiy. Hatsu would never betray Suna!" he bent down and licked away some blood from Shaiy's neck. But her eyes saw nothing. "Are you really blind?" the teasing voice suddenly turned somber.

"I would have not been caught if I am not blind," she replied calmly, shattering his last hope.

"And you've come to save Hatsu even though you cannot see...you must really love him a lot," Sasori muttered.

"I will not watch as you kill him."

"What about me? What if I was the sacrifice instead of Hatsu?" he forced the shrouded black eyes to look at him.

"I care and linger for no one of this world except for him," she responded rebelliously, as if stating the obvious.

"But I'm the one who loves you! Why is he so much better than me?" Sasori's fingers tightened around Shaiy's chin. "He's a chuunin, I am ANBU elite. Anything that he can give you, I can too. Those he cannot, I could also! Why don't you love me?" He kissed her with aggression.

_I do..._"I cannot. We are not meant to be together," Shaiy whispered.

Sasori froze for a second. _No, not that stupid curse again!_ "Listen, that peddler is nothing but lies. You can't possibly believe her!" his hands are crushing her jaw.

"You're denying fate, Sasori-san. Fate should not be ignored," Shaiy alleged. "You're hurting me, danna."

"I apologize," he released his clutch. "But please don't do anything rash again." Sasori awkwardly tucked a few loosen strands of silver hair behind Shaiy's ear. He leaned down and caressed her forehead with his lips.

Sasori dragged at the cell gate; it made an involuntary squeal before opening. "You're free to go."

Shaiy tottered, struggling to stand on her swollen ankles. A hand lifted her up with ease by the waist. The hand was cold. She shook away his help and continued to haul herself across the hoary slate corridor. _You cannot resist against the will of fate, it is destined for you even before birth._

A heart void of emotion gives away no weakness, but at the same time, it tugs away at your soul. To have forgotten the ability to feel is the worst punishment of all; to have lost so much yet cannot cry or mourn for what is gone is the most aggravating reprimand. The ones who gave up at the first sight of obstacles are not the cowards, but those forsaken by God and time.

The statues of Shodaime and Nidaime Kazekage stared far into the distance, as if witnessing the future that they will never experience. Maybe they're beholding the chaos of the world, hidden from the mortal vision. "I will never forgive this village; the rightful revenge will be mine," looking back, there was no image of the accursed town, only the darkness that had always been there.

From atop the heavily reinforced walls of the Sunagakure, Sasori observed the woman, who stumbled across the arid desert, her destination unknown. Maybe she'll walk until her death; her future clouded with thickening haze. The wind came, erasing the last trail of Shaiy.

Fate dropped down like an unmovable barrier between the two. Now one is Suna elite, the other missing-nin. One preordained to lead a normal life, the other's fate is still indefinite.

The streets of Vancouver were crowded with people. Sophie sat in a comfortably warm taxi cab, her mind involuntarily drifted off to sleep. "Miss, we're at the airport," the driver woke the drowsy woman.

"Oh!" Sophie stuttered. Three hours of sleep each night for the past month has finally begin to take a toll on her. Since Christmas and New Year are rapidly approaching, the Japan-based international import and export company that Sophie works for is adding daily exertions on all of its employees. "Thank you," Sophie fumbled in her purse and handed the driver a generous tip.

"No problem ma'am," he had a heavy Asian accent.

The chills of late November hit Sophie's slender frame as she stepped out of the car. Her long, white-blond hair whipped around in the wind. She pulled her beige trench coat tight together and hurried across the street, into the greeting hall of Vancouver International Airport.

"Sophie! Sophie, I'm over here!" Sam called out, while slashing her arms violently in the air.

"Morning Sam," Sophie yawned.

"Great weather, don't you think?" Sam dimpled. "Hey hottie!" she twirled her rich, honey brown curls and winked at a passing man.

"Quit it, Sam," Sophie pouted, eyeing the grey sky outside. "It's going to rain."

"I know, that's why I brought my lovely umbrella," the brunette scrabbled through her handbag. "It's a souvenir from Mexico you know," she opened a tiny, bright pink sunshade.

"That is hardly gonna to shield you from the rain, it pours here in BC. And it's bad luck to open an umbrella inside," Sophie reminded her.

"Oh."

"I don't understand you, how can you still have energy to flirt and dress like a complete prostitute when the manager loads so much work onto us each day," Sophie complained.

"See, this is your problem. All you ever wear is white, black, brown and grey. I mean honestly, how can you expect to have dates when you dress like you're in mourning?" nudged Sam; she didn't seem to mind at all that Sophie just called her a slut.

"I don't need a boyfriend."

"You should start taking your personal issues more seriously, you're already 26! I'm sure your parents would be expecting grandchildren at this time!"

"Well they'll just have to wait until the perfect guy comes along," Sophie said matter-of-factly.

_"The Boeing 767-300 ER Origination: Tokyo, Japan; Destination: Vancouver, British Colombia, Canada, has been delayed. New arrival time: 15:57." _

"You're joking!" whined Sam. "And the controller sent us so early in the morning!"

"Sam, it's three o'clock."

"Oh," Sam checked her sparkly pink Chanel wrist watch figuratively. "You tend to lose track of the time when you're as busy as me," she eyed a handsome male flight attendant sitting by the food court.

Sophie let out a sigh.

"Would you like some coffee, my dear? It will wake you up like having a bucket of icy water poured over your head on a Monday morning," Sam suggested.

"In that case, no, I think I'll pass on the offer, but thanks anyway," Sophie rejected absent-mindedly.

"Oh, come on! Don't tell me you're afraid of a little caffeine."

"The plane's here, Sam. Get out the sign," said the white-haired woman.

"Diverting the subject, are we now?" Sam glared at Sophie. "Very well, here."

Sophie toke the rather large piece of pink paper from Sam's hand. "Sam, what the hell," on the bright pink article was glittering letters spelling: _Welcome, Jareth _with a fuzzy pink heart sticker beside his name.

"Sam, you don't even know what he looks like!"

"Minor technicality, my dear girl. The man that Jennifer chose couldn't be too plain."

"Fine, you hold it up then," Sophie chucked the magenta item back at Sam.

"As you wish, Your Majesty," bowed Sam.

"Excuse me? Are you ladies from the Akatsuki Incorporate?"

"Yes, and you are?" Sophie replied.

Time heals the worst wounds, but it cannot erase memories. The people will eventually die, but their reminiscences lingered. Ninja do not have the luxury of having a corpse, and when they're gone, the ones mourning become the only evidence that the dead was once alive and breathing.

Sophie turned around. Time froze.

The flaming red hair...

"I'm Jareth."

_"I'm Sasori."_

The delicate features...

"My name is Sophie."

_"My name is Shaiy."_

The vortex-like scarlet eyes...

"Nice to meet you,"

_"Nice to meet you too,"_

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A/N: Had this brilliant idea the other day...so eh... Aoi-chan is writing a random story...that sounds like a soup opera...It's gonna be so awesome, why? Because I'm writing it! incoherent laughter Anyways, this is my first Emo/modern fan fiction, so go easy on me ok?

By the way, about the Akatsuki Incorporate, that's an inside joke, I just couldn't resist XD

Now about my other story...you see, I have basically all of my character profile, storyline etc etc on my other computer, which is down at the moment, and I can't write without my outlines, so...But I will have the computer up HOPEFULLY before school starts on the 5th, so I will definitely update before then, sorry about the inconvenience.

Last two things, I had a lot of people asking me why I named this story Scarlet Four O'clock. I can't really tell you the whole story behind it, but the Four O'clock is a type of desert flower that only blooms well under full sun exposure, it can have different colors of flowers on a same plant (red, yellow, pink and white), its flowers blooms around (you've guessed it) four o'clock in the afternoon, it represents "momentary beauty", the rest, you can figure it out.

And finally, I've been having a hard time deciding whether this story should be a happy ending or a tragedy, so I am holding a, drumroll please! POLL! So file in your vote on the reviews, or message me at oldcasetteyahoo.ca THANK YOU! This story will be approximately 5 - 10 chapters long, so it's actually quite short...I hope that you enjoyed it!

Kikuta Aoi signed


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